IRISH56

I'll probably be out on Cayuga but I'll be pulling my d@!# in-laws around on a f$%^&* tube or something :evil: :evil: Nobody on my wife's side of the family seems to understand that a boat is for fishing and that I get real cranky when I am on the boat and not fishing and then I get into the beer and then ......................... :shock: Good fishing boys!!!!!! DAN

I run a lot of Okuma Magda's but the vast majority of my fishing is done on the fingerlakes. I have taken a couple of kings w/Magda's spooled with either wire or braid and they have held up just fine. HOWEVER - if I was fishing Lake O. regularly I would definitely upgrade the Magda's for wire diver applications, probably braid divers also. Although I can't say from personal experience I think the Magda's would be quickly smoked when used regularly for wire divers on kings. Look at the Convector series reels from Okuma, they apparently had some drag issues which have been resolved or the Daiwa Sealine reels, a little more $$$$ than the Okuma's but very solid. DAN

Big Fishman - thanks for the info.. I'm planning on picking up the east end hotspots map on my next trip to Bass Pro. I'd definitely take the coordinates - I'll PM ya!! Thanks. DAN

My brother had a Starcraft SuperFisherman 20'er that fit that bill, great boat for all seasons. He traded up for a 24' Trophy and I didn't have the $$$ to buy his Starcraft or I would have. There are a number of other similar boats out there (aluminum V-hulls) but I think you'll find Starcraft is the way to go. DAN

Nice brown Matt :shock: :shock: what a pig! DAN

Well if ya read my post from today's outing you'd know where they were, I've fished that area countless times over the years and this is the first 'bow I've caught so I wouldn't qualify myself as an expert. Alpeena what?????? Must be old school DAN

Rich - thanks. Gonna pick up a good east end map here shortly. #3 for me, when does it get easier?? DAN

...................... silver and grape

Hermit - bro the two 'bows we caught today were the 1st two I've ever caught on the lake so don't feel bad. Back in the late '80's it was nothing to catch a couple of big 'bows outta the trib's but I think the rainbow fishery isn't anywhere's close to what it once was. They both came on silver & purple spoons today, not what you would call a "hot" color by any means. DAN

Rich D - sorry it took me so long to reply - kept meaning to do it but forgetting :roll: 1 mos. old has got me spinnin' in circles. We will be headed up on the 6th and staying through the following Sunday. Still not exactly sure where we will be staying, wife seems to be keeping me in the dark after I explained to her there's salmon fishing up there. DAN

Good lookin' sharks!! Like that spoon, is that a glow spoon?? DAN

Usually can hold my own with dodger/fly rigs off dipsey divers but so far this year it's been a predominantly spoon bite for me. I have not run any flashers yet but am going to get some Spin Doc's or Pro Trolls ... soon goin hungry - you may wish to make the jump to wire soon, the spiny water fleas will gum up the power pro pretty bad :evil: :evil: We've been taking a lot more decent sized landlocks and browns this year off the spoon program run above the dipsy divers. R&R spoons in any combination of black, blue & purple on a silver cup has been pretty hot. DAN

Longline - I thought the same thing but it seemed to pretty much do it consistently at a variety of depths, never experienced it to that degree before. In the same water last week there was a very distinct temp break setting up around that depth so that's probably what it was today, tried to see it on the sonar but couldn't pick it up :? Thanks. DAN

Area just south of Milliken station on the east side, 7 for 10, 80 - 100 fow. Everything on riggers up higher in the water column, 20' - 50' with a couple of rips on wire divers w/nobody home (out 220'.) A couple of decent landlocks, 'bows, a 5# brown and an 8# laker, all on spoons (R&R's w/variations of silver/black & purple, & green/black NK's.) Could not get any flies to stick on the dipsey's, a couple of good rips w/no one home and one or two dropped fish. Surface temp was 67 - 68, down temp's ... not real sure, the temp readings from the probe were real erratic. Temp would rise & fall with the speed, sometimes as much as 4 or 5 degrees. Really hoping the probe isn't messed up :shock: . Fleas starting to become a nuisance. DAN

I've kinda been hearing a lot of the same - depends on who you talk to you. Fishing the other day on Cayuga it felt like early June or late May, bait was in tight and thick and a lot of marks in tight also. Caught a bunch of fish, mostly landlock salmon, but normally it's the lakers in and around the bait real heavy. I've only caught a few lakers this year, they are normally the staple. Trust me ... I'm not complaining about the landlocks, they are on average quite a bit bigger than last year. It seems to me that everything is a couple of weeks behind this year for one reason or another. DAN

Starting to pick up a few on Cayuga right at the knots. Won't be long now and they'll be thick :? :evil: Surface temp yesterday was just shy of 70, when it gets steady 70 plus is normally when they start showing in force. DAN

It looks like plenty of room across the transom to mount tracks, is that an old Cannon base in the pic?? If you have enough width along the gunnels I'd suggest mounting track along each gunnel for rod holders etc., and a 6" track where you want to mount your riggers. I started out with rigger bases & rod holders bolted directly to the boat. I switched out the rigger bases w/Pursuit tracks (Traxtrech now) and may do the same with the rod holders. Track looks a lot cleaner with the inserts and it's a snap to convert from fishing machine to family cruiser :roll: Hope this helps. DAN

Bimini tops are great for getting out of the weather without a hard top - sun, rain, wind & snow ( :shock: if you are so inclined.) Don't know what kind of boat you actually have but I have dual console w/a walkthrough windshield and a bimini top that snaps down to the top of the windshield and has clear side enclosures. It does a great job keeping the rain out and keeping the sun off of you. Only downside is with the 17' boat it doesn't leave a ton of room behind the top for fishing purposes (i.e manuevering rods around, fighting & landing fish etc.) With a 19' boat you shouldn't have much of an issue with that I wouldn't think. You really get what you pay for with canvas, go with the best you can for your budget. Mine is sunbrella fabric which is quite pricey but it came with the boat so I really don't know how much it cost aftermarket. It is good stuff though - very durable and still sheds rain really well. Hope this helps. DAN

Fished out of Myers this morning and did well on landlocks with a brown and a laker mixed in. Surface temp 69 - 70, temp down to 40' was low 60's, between 40' and 50' down was about a 6-8 degree difference +/-. Ran a four rod program, riggers, wire diver and a braid diver. We went something like 10 for 15, all landlocks except for an avg. laker and a decent brown. The one landlock we kept went about 6 lbs.. Pretty much all the fish came on R&R spoons; black & silver and black & purple with glow ladderback tape. Took one or two on a white fishscale dodger w/white fly out 85' on the braid diver, nothing on the wire. Best rigger depth was 58' over 80'ish fow, both down spoon and slider, other rigger was set at about 48' w/a slider and took a fish or two also. Bait was pretty much everywhere in the 70 - 100 fow range with a lot of marks in and around it. We did all the better fish in front of Milliken. Now the one that got away - an easy 10lb. landlock took an R&R blue/purple on a slider (down 60' over 80 fow), popped the release and ripped a bunch of line off. He spit the hook just as he rocketed out of the water about 5', got a pretty good look at it behind the boat, biggest LLS I've seen on Cayuga :evil: :evil: It was way too hot out there after about 9:30am when the wind died and the fishing died with it. Pic's are rather crummy, left my digital at home. DAN

This year's family vacation is going to be in the Henderson Harbor area. Apparently one of my wife's co-workers owns a cottage right on the water near Westcott SP so we will be spending a week in early August. If anyone's got any local fishing info. they're willing to part with I'd appreciate it. Primary targets are salmon/trout but my boat's only a 17'er so off shore fishing will be very weather dependent, limited experience crew also :roll: I see in this months issue of Great Lakes Angler the "Trench" is highlighted, how far of a run is that area off shore?? Thanks in advance. DAN

Fishack - way too go!! The brown fishing in Fair Haven has been phenomenal this year, those are some pigs :shock: DAN

Thanks guys - everyone came home this afternoon and are doing well, sleeping soundly as I write this despite the thunderstorms. Having only had girls up to this point it's nice to see some camo and clothes without pink and flowers. I will have to say that Daniel is gonna have to race his sisters to the rods when he gets older, my daughters can both catch fish. Let's see, that's a total of 3 kids, me, the wife ... 10 rods :shock: Gonna need a much bigger boat!!!!! DAN

Well I suppose he's not a new species but he's probably going to be "invasive" for a while. My son Daniel was born 06/05/07 at 0046 hours at Cayuga Med. Ctr. in Ithaca. He is smaller than my two daughter's were at birth (7#'s, 20") but he put up a heck of a fight. As you'll see in the 2nd pic though he seems to be figuring things out quickly. Nonetheless, it'll be a while before I get back out on the water so keep the reports and pic's coming. DAN

Slow day for us. Trolled east side from Myers up to Milliken and back. ran two riggers w/spoons & sliders, two dipsies with dodger/fly rigs and planer boards (2 color core and a flat line.) Set up just north of Myers and started marking a lot of bait and fish in the 80 fow range. First rod down was a rigger w/a slider, 55' down. Get the 2nd rigger down and the 1st rod starts bouncing - doubled up lakers on slider and down spoon, combined weight was maybe 4lbs :roll: Get everything in the water and continued to mark bait and fish but nothing going. In and out from 50 fow out to 150 fow, changing spoons, dodgers, flies, sticks all the while. Managed two landlocks that we had been dragging for god knows how long on spoons. Surface temps were upper 50's to 60's with down temps mid to upper 40's. Hazy, hot and humid w/little or no wind. DAN

MB - looks sweeeeeeet! DAN